hen it sang quite
mournfully:

"Snip, snap, snurre,
Basse lurre.
The song is ended."

"No, it is not ended," said the flax. "To-morrow the sun will shine or
the rain descend. I feel that I am growing. I feel that I am in full
blossom. I am the happiest of all creatures, for I may some day come to
something."

Well, one day some people came, who took hold of the flax and pulled it
up by the roots, which was very painful. Then it was laid in water, as
if it were to be drowned, and after that placed near a fire, as if it
were to be roasted. All this was very shocking.

"We cannot expect to be happy always," said the flax. "By experiencing
evil as well as good we become wise." And certainly there was plenty of
evil in store for the flax. It was steeped, and roasted, and broken,
and combed; indeed, it scarcely knew what was done to it. At last it was
put on the spinning wheel. "Whir, whir," went the wheel, so quickly that
the flax could not collect its thoughts.

"Well, I have been very happy," it thought in the midst of its pain,
"and must be contented with the past." And contented it remained, till
it was put on the loom and became a beautiful piece of white linen. All
the flax, even to the last stalk, was used in making this one piece.

"Well, this is quite wonderful," said the flax. "I could not have
believed that I should be so favored by fortune. The fern was not wrong
when it sang,

'Snip, snap, snurre,
Basse lurre.'

But the song is not ended yet, I am sure; it is only just beginning. How
wonderful it is that, after all I have suffered, I am made something of
at last! I am the luckiest person in the world--so strong and fine. And
how white and long I am! This is far better than being a mere plant and
bearing flowers. Then I had no attention, nor any water unless it
rained; now I am watched and cared for. Every morning the maid turns me
over, and I have a shower bath from the watering-pot every evening. Yes,
and the clergyman's wife noticed me and said I was the best piece of
linen in the whole parish. I cannot be happier than I am now."

After some time the linen was taken into the house, and there cut with
the scissors and torn into pieces and then pricked with needles. This
certainly was not pleasant, but at last it was made into twelve garments
of the kind that everybody wears. "See now, then," said the flax, "I
have become something of importance. T